Innocence
by Lady Aoi
Summary: UPDATED! Part 2 of ?. Ever wonder what Otaru and Hanagata were like as kids? Of course not, but humor me? [NON-YAOI]
1. Default Chapter

Innocence  
A SMJ Fan Fic  
by  
Lady Aoi  
  
Summary: Ever wonder how Otaru and Hanagata first met? Of course you   
don't. But  
humor me. (Takes place aproximately ten years before the events of   
SMJ) [NON YAOI!]  
Rating: G  
Disclaimer: They aren't mine and neither is the story. The story was   
created by hot  
chocolate consumed very early in the morning. Mhh, cocoa-sama...  
Lady Aoi's Notes: ... even I get tired of writing slash sometimes.   
Think of this as the  
innocence side of that famous Blakeian equation ^_~v.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
There was nothing to do about it. He had to leave. The girl with the   
blue hair was  
calling him again.  
  
"Sempai!!"  
  
And yet, the tall, blonde man stood looking at him, the tears budding   
like roses in  
the corners of his eyes and sliding down his face like a shower of   
translucent petals.  
  
"You're really going to do it then?" Otaru could almost hear the   
fatigue and....  
something else as it caught in the man's throat. "You're really going   
to choose her over  
me? After all we've been through together?"  
  
"Sempai!"  
  
"I..." Otaru shook his head. "Gomen nasai, but I -- I gotta go --!"  
  
"Shinyuu!" The blonde cried as Otaru ran towards the girl. "You can't   
do this to  
me! Shinyuu! Shinyuu!!"  
  
"Gahh!"  
  
~*~  
Otaru Mamiya sat up quickly, nearly banging his head on the bunk   
above him. A  
pair of tired, but nonetheless startled brown eyes quickly scanned   
the room as a slender  
dark hand smoothed bleached bangs out of their path. As on all nights   
in which this  
peculiar dream visited him, only the dingy room lit by the snow-  
brightened light through  
its even filthier window and rows of sleeping children met his gaze.  
  
"Mhh," Otaru sleepily murmured as he shifted his gaze to the driving   
snow beyond  
the orphanage's window. "That weird dream again...."  
  
~*~  
  
"Young master, please!"   
  
"I said NO, PINSUKE!"  
  
Hanagata Mitsurugi wrapped his arms around his teddy bear and buried   
his chin  
into its belly as he wiggled deeper into his nest of quilts. His bear   
and bed were warm and  
toasty and smelled, like the rest of his room, faintly of jasmine, in   
contrast to the raging  
snowstorm outside which he knew was cold and would smell like snow,   
not flowers.  
  
"B--but young master! Your father will be furious if you are late to   
your first day  
of school!!"  
  
But not even the threat of punishment at the hands of his large and   
domineering  
father (which was usually induce the young Hanagata to do almost   
anything) was enough  
to rouse the indolent eight-year-old from his snowy   
contemplation. "Humph! I don't get  
why I have to go to some crummy old public school anyway! You won't   
be there, Nursie  
won't be there, and I just don't get it!!" Despite being the room's   
sole occupant, Hanagata  
decided his point would be best emphasized by sticking his lower lip   
out. "It's not like  
we're poor like all those *other* boys who can't afford tutors!! So   
why do I have to go?!"  
  
"Because your father says you need to learn about people who aren't   
like you,  
Mitsurugi-sama. So you can grow up with an understanding of everyone   
Hanagata  
Enterprises serves, from all walks of life!! From working class men   
to the poorest of the  
poor."  
  
"So let them all get jobs! I'm sleepy!"  
  
"But young master! Think of it! All the different ways of life, all   
the different boys,  
some of whom could be good friends for your whole life. Doesn't that   
sound fun?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Young master," forgetting for a moment that he was alone in the   
hallway,  
Pinsuke drew slightly away from the door and rested a hand upon his   
chest. "Would it  
surprise you to learn that I, your faithful servant and friend   
Pinsuke, was from one of the  
lower classes?"  
  
"Snore!"  
  
"And that I met your clever father when I was about your age in the   
very same  
public school you are about to attend today?"  
  
"Too bad he didn't beat you up a lot! Maybe then you'd be less   
boring."  
  
Pinsuke's face twitched painfully with the memory. "Young master!"   
  
~He beat me up every day, you little brat! And once, when the head   
master wasn't  
looking, he even ran my underwear up the flag poll... with me still   
in it. And so help me, if  
you don't come out of that room in ten seconds, I'll come in there   
and give you a  
demonstration!~  
  
He sighed and leaned his forhead against the door. "Young master,   
please..."  
Heavens, how this next entreaty hurt one's pride. "If you open your   
door promptly and  
come out like a good young man I'll -- I'll personally take you to --   
to get a Smiling  
Shirataki Kid's Meal as soon as school is over."  
  
Inside his room, Mitsurugi interestedly turned his head away from the   
window.  
  
"And can we go sledding in the park later on?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And will you let me drive Daddy's motor palanquin?"  
  
"You know I can't do that, Mitsurugi-sama! He'd have my hide!"  
  
"Well then, I'm sorry, but the deal is off!"  
  
"Gyahh!!" Pinsuke cried, feeling the one nerve he still decidedly   
posessed snap in  
fifteen distinct and painful pieces. He was almost ready to kick down   
the child's door  
down and drag him out by the seat of his satin pants, when a soft and   
electronically-tinged  
feminine voice piped up behind him.  
  
"Is Mitsurugi-sama disobedient, master Pinsuke?"  
With an exasperated sigh, the Hanagata family's retainer turned to   
find himself face  
to face with the frail five foot one form of Nursie, the nurse maid   
marionette Mitsurugi  
had recieved sometime in the second week of his young life. "Oh, it's   
you, Nursie," he  
sighed as he removed his glasses to wipe the sweat from his   
eyes. "Yes, our young master  
is being very disobedient this morning and IF HE ISN'T CAREFUL, I   
FEAR HIS  
FATHER WILL PUNISH HIM FOR BEING LATE TO SCHOOL!!"  
  
"And if you yell at me again, I shall never speak to you again,   
Pinsuke! Never  
never never never never never never never never!!"  
  
Pinsuke reasoned that his dissapointment should such a threat be   
carried out would  
not even occupy the smallest measurement of time.  
  
"Isn't he hopeless, Nursie?!" he cried, throwing his hands up into   
the air. "I simply  
don't know what to do with him anymore."  
  
In response to this statement, however, the brown-haired marionette   
simply  
walked toward the door and knocked once.  
  
"Go AWAY, PINSUKE!!!"  
  
"Mitsurugi-kun, school begins at 9:30. Fifteen minutes and five point   
zero zero  
zero eight three seconds remain."  
  
"But I don't wanna go, Nursie!"  
  
"You are required to go to school, Mitsurugi-kun."  
  
"But I'll hate it there! It'll be cold and boring and they won't let   
me play with my  
toys during the lessons!"  
  
"You are required to go to school, Mitsurugi-kun."  
  
"...Well, if I do, can we play after school is over?"  
  
"If Hanagata-sama authorizes us to do so, yes."  
  
In the silence that followed, Pinsuke pondered sending Nursie to   
fetch a crow bar  
for use first on the locked bedroom door and then upon his young   
master's behind. He  
was just about to begin questioning the possiblility of Mitsurugi's   
father discovering even  
his treasonous thoughts when he heard the small sound of feet padding   
towards the  
bedroom door. Seconds later, the door itself swung open to reveal a   
fully uniformed  
Mitsurugi, complete with a large sack of toys thrown over one   
shoulder.  
  
"Okay, I'll go," he huffed, shooting Pinsuke a dirty look. "But I'm   
only going  
`cause you and Daddy are making me! And," he looked hopefully over to   
the marionette  
nursemaid. "And because Nursie said we'd play later." As the   
marionette looked on,  
Hanagata smiled shyly up at her.  
  
"Come, young master," Pinsuke said, placing a hand upon the boy's   
shoulder.  
  
"We'll be late for school."  
  
Mitsurugi sighed, shrugged at his nursemaid and then turned to follow   
the family  
retainer. "Can I drive?"  
  
"What did I say earlier?"  
  
~*~   
It was bad enough that the teachers seemed to take a particular and   
almost, in  
Otaru's opinion, perverse delight in forcing their students to remain   
outside in the snow  
until the morning bell rang. However, the presence of three large   
bullies and their  
rock-filled snowballs were making the situation even worse.  
  
"Well, well, well, if it isn't that little bed wetter, Otaru Mamiya."  
Otaru bristled at the insult, feeling his bicepts tense with   
adrenaline despite the  
morning cold. "Aw, get lost, Gan," he snarrled.   
  
"Get lost, Gan!" the insult's target mimiced as two of his cronies   
menacingly  
aimed their snowballs for him. "Hehe. The little orphan thinks he's   
so funny. SHUT UP,  
YOU!" he shouted as his two friends burst into mechanical and puzzled   
laughter. "That  
WAS NOT AN ORDER TO LAUGH!"  
  
"Oh. Gomen, Gan-kun."  
  
"Now see what you did? You made my Super Terror Squad laugh at me!"  
  
"No I didn't! You made `em laugh by giving them a silly order!"  
  
"SHUT UP!!!" Gan shouted, smacking both of his cronies across the   
face as they  
laughed again. "You wanna say that again, huh, punk?" his eyes   
narrowed angerously as  
he glared at Otaru. "Or wouldja rather fight me like a real man, huh?"  
  
"Aw, leamme alone." But as Otaru turned to leave, Gan's friends   
grabbed him by  
the shoulders and spun him back around.  
  
"Whassamatter, baby? Going somewhere?"  
  
Otaru rolled his eyes. "Well, DUH! Away from you bozos!"  
  
Gan's dark eyes widened in surprise. "H--how dare you talk back to   
me!" he  
stammered, his face flushing with rage. "You little baby! You won't   
get away with this!"  
  
Otaru's lips turned upwards in a sneer as he clenched his   
fists. "Fine! I'm not afraid  
of you, Gan! Or anybody! Bring it on!"  
  
"You have no idea who you're dealin' with, little baby! GET HIM!!"  
  
~*~  
  
From a nearby window, martial arts instructor Soemon Obiichi sighed   
and shook  
his head. No one could deny that the fight had begun well, and for a   
moment he himself  
actually believed Mamiya would take the larger boys down. After all,   
while the older boys  
had layers of hard muscle on their side, they couldn't hold a candle   
to the seven-year-old  
Mamiya's speed and agility. That counted for something.  
Or, at least it should have.  
Soemon sighed as the battered child slowly climbed to his feet and   
wiped the  
trickle of blood from his nose. As the boy made his way into the   
school, an icy wind  
swirled the snow through the air, and for a moment, young Mamiya   
seemed to be the  
lonliest thing in the world.  
  
"That's how it should have gone," Soemon whispered, feeling his own   
fists clench  
slightly. But sadly, his years of experience had taught him that few   
things, if anything, ever  
worked out as they should. 


	2. This ain't the default chapter

~*~  
As Otaru pushed the door to classroom 37A open, the noisy bustle of unattended second-graders hit his ears full-on. Few people paid any attention to the child as he padded his way toward the back of the class to his lone desk and took his seat. In fact, if anything the room only got noisier.  
  
Sighing, Otaru turned his gaze into the snow covered landscape beyond the window. As he watched the swirling clouds of snowflakes drive by the glass, Otaru slowly unfocused his eyes. The world always felt so private when you did this, he thought. When you made your vision go blurry, everything slowly got quiet and calm until you could hear yourself breathe even if everyone around you was screaming. And then, just for a moment, if you turned your eyes right to the big blur that was Japoness Mt. Fuji, you could sometimes see Kami.  
  
Of course, no one had ever told Otaru this. In fact, when he'd tried to explain this world to Hayashi-senpai the last time he'd been accused of 'daydreaming', he'd been soundly boxed on the ears and made to stand in the corner all during morning break. But that didn't change anything. If you looked right up at the mountain you could sometimes see Kami, in spite of what Hayashi-senpai said. And sometimes, if you were really good and asked for something you really needed with all your heart, sometimes Kami would answer your prayer. After all, hadn't Otaru gotten a new pair of shoes only a day after he'd asked Kami for them? And a high grade on his math assignment when he'd asked for that? As the snowflakes blurred past his vision, Otaru made a decision; if Kami could give you new shoes and good grades, then surely asking for something far more important wouldn't be too hard.  
  
~Please, Kami,~ Otaru turned his eyes to the tip top of the mountain. ~Please... give me a friend. Well, I'd like a lot of friends... except for Gan, 'cause he's stupid and mean and smells bad... but... but that's okay. Because all I really want is one really, really good friend... someone who I can hang out with all the time and who won't always try to pick on me... someone I can have fun with, someone who....~  
  
Something yellow was bouncing around out there.  
  
~Someone who'll always be there for me....~  
  
"MITSURUGI-SAMA!!"  
  
"Huh?" Starting at the noise, Otaru blinked rapidly and turned his gaze towards the noise. Outside, the swirling flurries seemed to part to reveal a dark haired bespectacled man and an equally dark-haired marionette. However, Otaru was more interested in the smaller figure with them.  
  
"WAAAAAAHHH!!!! I HATE IT HERE!!! I WANNA GO HOOOOOOOOOOOME!!!!!!!!!"  
A  
blonde boy about his age lay on the recently shoveled sidewalk, flailing his limbs so quickly that they were little more than white blurs. As he wailed, the man desperately tried to cal him down.  
  
"Mitsurugi-sama, please -- you'll hurt yourself if --"  
  
"I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
Otaru wiped the sweat beading his brow and stared at the screaming child, whose actions were quickly drawing a crowd of adults and children alike. The blonde boy seemed close to his age, perhaps a little older, even -- although given his current behavior it was difficult to tell. From the looks of his freshly pressed uniform, his elegant purple coat, and matching shoes, (all equally damp now, thanks to the snow) he also appeared well-to-do.  
  
~Great,~ Otaru sighed, propping his elbow up on the desk and resting his head against a clenched fist. ~Another stupid rich brat!~ Honestly, why the heck couldn't they all just go to their own schools and leave all the orphans alone?  
  
~Probably their stupid fathers are too cheep to pay for them to go anywhere else,~ Otaru pouted to himself as the dark haired marionette lifted the flailing child from the sidewalk. Oh, well. At least the new boy looked to skinny to hurt him... and if he tried...  
  
~Aww, I know I can beat the snot outta him!~  
  
Oddly enough, however, the boy stopped struggling immediately when the marionette touched him. Closing his mouth tightly, he simply wrapped his arms around her neck and nestled quietly against her ample breast as she carried him towards the building.   
  
~What in the world? Now what's he up to?~ Otaru wondered, craning his neck to follow the boy and the machine's progress.  
  
And at that moment, the blonde looked up and noticed him.  
  
For some reason entirely beyond the seven-year-old's comprehension, Otaru simply returned the gaze, his eyes unflinchingly locked onto the boy's pale blue pair. He had to admit it, Rich Boy had a fascinating face... pale skin, high cheek bones (~Maybe he's not from here?~) and a pair of wide light blue eyes which seemed to stare right into you. And after a moment of mutual staring, the blonde raised a tentative hand and waved timidly.  
  
Stunned at this sudden change of behavior, Otaru cocked his head and blinked quizzically before returning the wave.  
  
~Weird,~ he thought as the marionette carried the boy inside. ~I wonder what that was all about...~ and shrugging, he turned his attention back to his desk.  
  
And while no one answered Otaru's question, a sudden wind kicked up the snow, swirling it in sparkling circles that made Japoness Mt. Fuji shimmer in the distance. 


End file.
